Electric receptacle



1960 E. T. PLATZ ELECTRIC RECEPTACLE Original Filed Oct. 20, 1951 2,924,803 7 ELECTRIC RECEPTACLE Elwood T. Platz, Detroit, Mich., assignor, by mesne assignments, to I-T-E Circuit Breaker Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania 2 Claims." 01. 339-21 This invention relates to a continuous outlet electric distribution system generally and particularly to an outlet receptacle utilized with such system. 1 Such a system comprises a flexible duct formed of a dielectric material which contains a pair of concealed conductors, and outlet receptacles and feed-in devices that are readily attachable to the duct at any point along its length. The outlet receptacle used is of the type that contains a plurality of apertures into which conventional pronged connector plugs can be inserted.

This application is a division of the now abandoned application Ser. No. 252,272 which. was filed October 20, 1951 and assigned to the assignee of this application.

- A primary object of the invention isto provide an outlet receptacle for use in a continuous outlet distribution system ,which is easilyand directly"connectible thereto at any, point alongits length without requiring piercing of the conductor insulator covering, or any other type of connection that may require tools or special working.

Another object is to provide a novel type of outlet receptacle that is easily and positively attachable to the continuous outlet conductors, this receptacle being of simplified design and presenting an attractive functional appearance.

Another object of this invention is to provide an outlet receptacle for attachment to a continuous outlet power distribution duct wherein the connection between the receptacle and the live conductor of the distribution duct is through a fuse element that forms a part of the outlet receptacle.

Another object is to provide a means for establishing the polarity of the outlet receptacle so that it can be attached to the conductor duct in only one way to insure proper fusing of the system, etc., or in instances having one wire grounded, the grounded conductor may be uniformly recognized by its relation to the polarizing scheme employed.

A further object of this invention is to provide a snap-on outlet receptacle having positive, direct electrical contact between the receptacle and the duct conductors.

Still other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the description and drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view with portion cut away showing 'a receptacle which is an embodiment of the invention, attached to a conductor duct;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a conductor duct with which the receptacle is used;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the receptacle with the broken lines showing the contactors and the attaching lug in released position;

Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view of the receptacle along line 44 of Fig. l; i 1

Figures 5 and 6 are cross-sections of the receptacle taken through lines 55 and 6-6, respectively, of Figure 3.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings a receptacle 170 is shown attached to a conductor duct 20. Conductor nited States Patent 2,924,803 Patented Feb. 9,1960

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duct 20 (Fig. 2) comprises a strip of dielectric material having a body portion that has the edges folded over to provide lips 20a, 20b, to form the slots 21 that receive and partially enclose the conductors 11, 13. As illustrated lip 20b is of greater width than the lip 20a in a direction transverse of the duct. This unsymmetry of the lips provides a means for establishing the polarity of the system .to insure proper fusing and connection of the receptacles and equipment connected thereto. The live or charged conductor 11 is always disposed in the slots 21 beneath the large lip 20b while the ground or neutral conductor 13 is concealed beneath lip 20a. For further detailed description of the conductor duct reference should be had to a co-pending divisional applicationlof the above men tioned'application Ser. No. 252,272.

As shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 4 the receptacle includes a hollow, box-like case 171. Case 171 (Fig. 3) has a pair of connector prong receiving apertures 172 that pierce the top wall of the case 171. Mounted within the case 171 are a pair of identical combination elements 173 and 174 respectively. Each of elements 173 and 174 is anchored to the underside of the top wall of case 171 by screws 175. Each of the combination elements 173 and 174 includes a fuse support clip 176 and a connector prong receiving socket 177. Spaced from the elements 173 and 174 within the case 171 are another pair of combination contact members 178 and 179 each of which is anchored to the top wall of the case 171 by the screw means 180. The combination contact member 178 includes an L-shaped spring leg contact 181 and a fuse support similar to clip 176. The combination contact member 179 includes the L-shaped spring leg'contact member 185 and the fuse holder 186.

Fuses 188 may be placed in either or both of the sets of fuse holders to connect the combination elements 173 with element 178 and to connect combination element 174 with element 179. When a fuse is inserted to connect either of the sets of combination elements 173, 178 or 174, 179 their electric power is communicated to the socket members 177 that are adapted to receive the prongs of a plug-in connection element.

Contact leg 181 of element 178 is larger than the contact leg 185 of element 179. The purpose of the elongated contact 181 is to provide a leg of sutlicient length to contact the conductor 11 of the form of duct strip shown in Fig. 2 as described hereinabove. The lip portion 20b of this form of duct strip 28 is of greater width than the lip 20a so the contacts 181, 185 must of difierent lengths in order to make contact with the duct conductors 11, 13.

In order to lock the receptacle 170 to the duct 20 and hold the contacts 181, 185 in engagement with the duct conductors 11, 13, this receptacle also includes the rotatable, diamond-shaped locking member 190. Member 190 is turned from the broken line position shown in Fig. 3 to the full line position to lock the pointed ends of the locking member 190 beneath the duct strip lips 20a, 20b. Locking member 190 (Fig. 4) is fixedly mounted on the rotatable bolt 191. Bolt 191 has a slotted head 193 that facilitates rotation of the bolt 191 by a screw driver or the like. A compression spring 195 that surrounds the bolt 191 tends to hold the locking member in any selected position. When applying the receptacle 170 to the duct 20, the bolt 191 is depressed to further compress the spring 195 and then the bolt 191 is turned to full line position shown in Fig. 3 to engage the ends of the locking member 190 beneath the lips 20a, 20b of the duct 20. The lengths of the contacts 181, 185 polarize the receptacle on the duct 20. Also it will be noted that either or both of the duct conductors may be connected through a fuse 188 to provide safety in the power transmission system.

The above specification presents a novel outlet receptacle for use in a cgntinuous duct electrical distribution.,

system. Polarization of the receptacle provides a safe, efficient readily usable source of electricity.

For a determination of the scope of the invention reference should behad to. the following claims in which I claim:

1. T he combination of a continuous outlet electric distribution system and a cooperating outlet receptacle removably secured thereto; said distribution system com-' prising, an I elongated duct nd two parallel spaced conductors said duct having inwardly projecting lips forming slots along the edges of said duct; said-conductors being disposed within said slots; said lips being of unequal width to provide a means for polarizing said system; said outlet receptacle comprising a case a pair of prong receiving apertures extending through one side of said case, a pair of prong receiving contact elements mounted within the case and aligned with the prong receiving apertures, a pair of conductor engaging contacts mounted within said case with each contact conductively connected with a prong receiving contact element, and

means rotatable with respect to said case mounted in said case having a locking member fixed thereto; said locking member being positionable by rotation thereof independ-' ently of moving said conductor engaging contacts within said slots and engageable with said lips to anchor the receptacle on the duct; said conductor engaging contacts being of unequallengths; said conductor engaging contact of shorter length being prevented by the lip of greater width from engaging the conductor disposed within the slot defined by the lip of greater width whereby the receptacle may be mounted to system only in a predetermined position.

2. An outlet receptacle removable from and attachable to a cooperating conductor duct at any point along thelength of the duct, said receptacle comprising a case 4' T having top, side and; endwalls and a; substantially open bottom side, a pair of spaced apart prong receiving apertures extending through the case top wall, a pair of prong receiving socket elements mounted within the receptacle case and aligned with the prong receiving apertures in the case top wall, a pair of conductor engaging contacts mounted within the case and including end portions of unequal lengths extending outside of said case in opposite directions in substantially a singleplane for positioning said reeeptacle in a predetermined position with respect to a cooperatingelectric distribution'system which includes a duct having inwardly extending lips of unequalwidths defining slots within which electrical conductors engageable bysaid conductor engaging contacts are disposed; means conductively connecting each of the socket elements to a conductor engaging contact, means rotatably mounted to said case having a locking member affixed thereto; said locking member being constructed and operatively positioned to be detachably engageable with a lip portion of {said duct remote from portions confining said conductor engaging contacts; said locking member being positioned beyond the confines of said case; and-biasing means disposed in said'case and operatively positioned to urge said locking member toward saidcase'.

References Cited in the file ofthispatent UNITED TA ES BATEN 1,694,056 Calkinsi Dec. 4, 1928 2,042,105 Kelley f May 26, 1934 2,076,558 Hartman etial. Apr. 13, 1937 2,170,285 Fisher et al, Aug. 22, 1939 2,309,972 Messing Feb. 2,- 1943 2,447,783 Williams Aug. 24, 1948 2,466,566 Tiscionic m" Apr. 5, 1949 

